Qualitative investigation on the views of inquiry teaching based upon the cloud learning environment of high school physics teachers from Beijing, Taipei, and Chicago

The teachers' understanding or conceptual beliefs would reflect their basic views on education, the nature of the course, their students, and how learning should be conducted. Once formed, such views would remain relatively stable for a significant period of time and affect their teaching practice, the ability of their students to carry out inquiry learning as well as developments in corresponding techniques and mindsets. This research analyzed the differences in the level of understanding of inquiry teaching under the cloud learning environment (CLE) between high school physics teachers from Beijing, Taipei and Chicago. As part of the analysis, video recordings of four actual high school investigative physics course sessions were selected from the 4th Competition of Middle School Physics Teachers Instruction Skills held in 2014 and ranked by the high school physics teachers from the three different cities in terms of inquisitiveness of the course. Results revealed significant differences exist between teachers from the three different cities in terms of understanding of CLE-based inquiry teaching. Teachers from Chicago inclined towards the students' awareness of the problem as well as their ability to collect and question data. Teachers from Beijing, on the other hand, prioritized a procedural approach in inquiry and investigations for their students. Finally, teachers from Taipei shared characteristics from both cities. In essence, teachers from Beijing were more teacher-focused in their understanding of inquiry teaching, while teachers from Chicago were more student-focused. Teachers from Taipei, on the other hand, was somewhere in between.